James Jeanfreau sits in one of the padded chairs lining the narrow waiting area at the front of his barbershop, surrounded by Saints bobble head dolls, posters, and a shimmering silver ticket stub from a Super Bowl he never attended. His tanned arms are folded contentedly over the golden “9” of his well-worn Drew Brees [...]
Legislators pushing for congressional action before BP settlement decision The Resources and Ecosystems Sustainability, Tourist Opportunities, and Revived Economy of the Gulf Coast Act, or RESTORE the Gulf Coast Act, has been passed around through Congress these last two terms. The point of the bill, being hailed already as one of the few unequivocal bi-partisan [...]
Ruling is only latest stage of the game, Moretco team says Judge Frank Foil, who presided over the early January hearing for Moretco v. Plaquemines Parish Council et al, rendered his decision on February 8. In his judgment, Foil sided with the Parish’s argument that Moretco was not entitled to any judicial relief for their [...]
ConocoPhillips said there was a short release of light hydrocarbons due to an upset at an unspecified unit at its Alliance Refinery in Belle Chasse. The release occurred around 9 a.m. on Wednesday February 1, and lasted for approximately four minutes. “We had an overhead atmospheric release valve open for about two to four minutes,” [...]
As the federal regulators argue the merit of drilling moratoriums and sluggish permit processes stemming from the Deepwater Horizon tragedy, as well as continued analysis of many oil industry endeavors—including the Keystone Pipeline backed by Louisiana Sen. David Vitter—local entities are pushing for action by attempting to highlight the otherwise hidden effects of the slow [...]
Signature signing day for college bound high school athletes was on February 1, and five local players all signed on the dotted line of their respective letters of intent. At Belle Chasse High, student athletes Quadry Antoine, Asphenn Gaines, Farron Jones and Marcel Thompson took part in the event held nationwide. South Plaquemines High School [...]
Belle Chasse Academy received commendations for meeting and/or exceeding accreditation standards and for earning the highest ranking, “highly functional,” in all categories during its AdvancED initial accreditation visit on January 18 and 19. The rating of “highly functional” was attributed to all seven AdvanceED Standards for quality: Vision and Purpose, Governance and Leadership, Teaching and [...]
For months, even years now, Councilman Burghart Turner of District 6, has had a standing agenda item, to discuss the Port Sulphur Library project at every Council meeting. And, for years, as additional projects went up all over the parish, Turner was left asking, ‘why haven’t we moved on this yet?’ With the Council’s most [...]
In a very short press release, the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office announced that Major Brandon Mouriz had been fired by interim Sheriff Michael LaFrance: “Effective January 25, 2012, Major Brandon A. Mouriz is no longer employed by the Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office. Due to the fact that this is a personnel matter, Sheriff Lafrance, at [...]
In Court, earlier this month, attorneys for Moretco— a land developer, claimed that Plaquemines Parish had racial motivations in attempting to stop the planned 300,000 square-foot shopping complex in Belle Chasse. Moretco claims are based on District 2 Councilman Keith Hinkley’s alleged “off the record” statement at a meeting last year that residents were afraid [...]
